Over the objections of cabdrivers, the District of Columbia is set on Thursday to scrap its seven-decade-old method of calculating taxi fares. Conventional time-and-distance meters will replace a system based on geographic zones.

The District was the only major American city to base fares on how many zones a cab crossed. Many riders, particularly out-of-town visitors, found the system of 23 zones confusing. Critics said it was too easy for unscrupulous drivers to overcharge.

‘The riding public asked for a more transparent fare system, and the mayor responded,’ Leon J. Swain Jr., chairman of the Taxicab Commission, said in a phone interview. Continue reading . . .

Back up in New York the Times also covers a revision to the subway map made by Massimo Vignelli for the May edition of Men’s Vogue.

Returning to DC, the WMATA subway and bus authority considered expanding our own system after the Feds breathed new steam into the planned Silver Line from Falls Church to Dulles International Airport and beyond to Loudoun County, the fastest growing country in the US recent years.